The Comforting Touch
Hank started by instructing his wife to put two large towels in the dryer to get them warm before he crawled into the room to make himself look smaller to the boys. He then sat on the floor just in front of the closet with his legs crossed in front of him and started talking softly to the boys.
When the warmed towels were tossed in to him a short time later they included two pair of freshly laundered training panties. Taking the warmed towels in his lap Hank scooted closer to the boys and draped the towels around them as he continued to talk to them. In time, nearly half an hour after he started Hank was able to pull the towel wrapped boys into his lap and help them put their panties back on.
Hank held and rocked the small boys in his lap until he thought they were calmed down and then began to move them over to the mattress that had been placed on the floor for them to sleep on.
"NO! Not my bed," one boy cried clinging tightly to Hank's neck and shirt to keep from being put in the bed.
"My bunnies," the other boy cried as he too clung tightly to Hank's clothes. Hank knew from his talks with Mike that the boy was referring to the little animals painted on the wall of their room. Mike had told him that his boys called them all bunnies even though there were puppies, kitties, pigs, sheep and other animals in the mural painted by his mother before the boys were born.
"My banky," the first boy cried as well.
It seemed to Hank that the boys were as afraid of that mattress on the floor as he had been of the huge snake. As much as he knew his wife had meant no harm to the boys he also knew that her actions of holding them down to put diapers on them had traumatized them.
Once again Hank pulled the boys close and held them tight as he rocked them. When an hour later they were still nowhere near calm enough to go to sleep Hank made the decision to take them to their home and put them to bed in their beds.
The diaper bag was repacked with the clothes that had just come out of the dryer and Hank's oldest daughter volunteered to come along. She was sure her daddy needed help taking care of such small children; he hadn't babysat for years to her knowledge.
The boys actually fell asleep in the car as they were driving but they awoke again once they were lifted out of the car. The two boys were carried into the house and Hank could tell by the relaxing muscles on the child he carried that they were happier to be home. The boys were carried strait to their room and allowed to kiss the bunnies on the wall before they were lifted into a bed and covered up with their blanky.
Hank then stepped back and after making sure their little night lights were working turned out all of the other lights in the house.
"Thanks for coming Krissy, why don't you take the guest room there and I'll crash on the sofa till morning. Then we'll figure out what to do next."
Kristen was just giving her father a good night kiss on his cheek when they noticed one of the boys getting out of his bed. Choosing not to act right away they watched as the boy went to the other bed and shook his brother. The other boy then got up and ran to the other bed while the first boy pulled a box out from under the bed and pulled a stuffed animal out of the box before getting into the bed he had just woke his brother up from. The continued to watch as the boys settled down in the opposite beds they had been placed in and when Hank was sure they were asleep again he moved in and tucked them in before heading for the sofa to deal with what he was sure would become night mares if he allowed himself to fall asleep.
-0-
At the hospital Laura was superglued in the chair at her husband's bedside at least as far as the hospital staff was concerned. She had snuck into his patient file to find out the time his last shot was given and knew within a few minutes when he would be waking up.
As she sat at his side she held the hand on his uninjured arm and rubbed it with her thumb. She had been tempted to check the reaction in his feet but she had been able to feel a subtle squeeze of her hand and had noticed involuntary movement in his feet. She was sure there was no spinal impairment.
When the heart monitor registered a quickening heart beat and the respirator alarms sounded Laura was quick to stand up at the side of the bed and start talking to her husband.
"It's alright, Mike, you're safe. You're going to be alright." Laura repeated those words several times as she both held his hand and brushed the side of his face with her other hand.
"Can you open your eyes for me, Mike?" Laura coaxed as she continued to brush the side of his face.
Laura watched as Mike swallowed and tried to move his lips, "Don't try to talk Mike, it's okay, you're going to be all right, but they had to do a tracheotomy. You're alright but your voice won't work right now."
Slowly Mike calmed down and then his eyes fluttered then opened. It looked as if it was quite a chore for him to get them opened.
Laura's emotions began to surface again but she swallowed them back, "Have I told you lately what beautiful eyes you have?"
The corners of Mike's mouth rose slightly before he started to look around.
"You're in the intensive care unit. I demanded the very best for my guy," Mike turned back and locked eyes with his wife. "You're going to be alright. You gave us a bit of a scare there for a moment but everything is under control now."
Mike pulled at the restraint on his uninjured hand. It was just a soft restraint just tight enough to keep him from pulling out his trach tube but still allowing him some movement. When he couldn't touch what he was aiming for Mike pointed.
"It's just temporary, they'll take it out in a day or two as soon as you can breathe without it."
Laura then watched as he turned his head against the traction sling set up around his head. She was comforted that he was able to move so well with little sign that he was causing him pain. In time she realized that he was trying to see his arm.
"It's okay Mike, your arm is there. You're all in one piece. You've got a couple of broken bones and they had to get the Erector Set out to put you back together but they expect a full recovery. The reason you can't feel it is because they've given you a nerve block to control the pain." Mike shifted his eyes back to his wife. "Trust me, that's a good thing. You're in for a couple of days that won't be so fun but once those bones heal you'll be as good as new."
"Do you remember what happened?" Laura tested the waters hoping to help him deal with the emotional trauma that he was sure to experience.
Mike thought for a moment before carefully shaking his head negatively.
"Can you trust me that that's a good thing right now too and not try to remember for a little while?"
Mike gave her a questioning look.
"I know you're going to need to talk about it when you do remember. It will be better if you don't remember before you can talk."
Mike's eyes showed some understanding to what his wife was saying but she could also tell he was trying to remember. She made mental note not to ask him that question again. Gratefully Laura noticed the nurse move in with a syringe and knew what it was.
"It's time for you to go back to sleep, we'll continue this conversation when you wake up again." Laura waved the nurse onward.
Mike's eyes flashed with urgency as he mouthed the word 'boys'.
Laura smiled, what better thoughts to leave him with as he went back to sleep. "The boys are fine; they're staying with the Stanleys. They miss you but I told them that you needed to have a sleep over at Mommy's work for a few days. They think you're getting lots of cake, ice cream and balloons."
Mike smiled and gave the closest thing to a giggle he was capable of before drifting back to sleep under the effects of the medication being injected into his IV port. The last thing he felt was his wife kiss his forehead and then nothing but peace.
-0-
Hank did manage to fall asleep despite himself. His next awareness of the world around him was when he heard Laura talking.
"Mom, I'm glad your home, I need you to sit down a minute. Mike's going to be alright but he went down on the job yesterday. No he's stable and the doctors are saying that they expect a full recovery. It's just that he got his airway crushed and he had us hopping for a while there. They had to put a tube into his throat below where it was crushed in order for him to breathe but once they did that it was just a matter of repairing his broken bones. Yes they were also able to repair his throat; they should be able to remove the trach tube in a few days. He's in intensive care for a day or two and he'll be down for a few weeks while his bones heal but he'll be pulling hose and fighting fires again before we know it.
You're always welcome to stay with us. I'll make sure your room is ready and I'm sure it will be a comfort for Mike to see you. Just be sure to drive carefully and I'll be at the hospital when you get here. Just have me paged. See you when you get here."
Hank forced himself to sit up as Laura came out of the kitchen and jumped with a start when she saw him.
"Morning," Hank yawned.
"Moring, I didn't expect to see you here."
"Yeah, well the boys didn't handle sleeping away from home so well. It was the only way we could settle them down and get them to sleep. How's Mike's mom doing?" Hank really didn't want to go into any details about what happened at his place.
"She's doing alright. She'd be a whole lot better if I hadn't have just scared her half to death," Laura answered looking Hank over. "She'll be here in a few hours. How are you doing? I checked with Chet this morning before I left. He's annoyed at being woken up every time he gets to sleep but his vitals are holding good. If the lab work this morning looks good they'll cut back on the vital checks and if he stays good they'll probably let him go home tomorrow as long as he agrees to take it easy for a few days."
"That's good," Hank still wasn't ready to answer the question Laura had thrown in to her information. "How's Mike doing this morning?"
"He woke up a little over an hour ago. As expected he was disoriented and not sure where he was there for a while. I told him everything is going to be alright and he managed to calm down before they put him back to sleep."
"Mommy!" was heard from the hallway and one little boy wearing only training panties came running to throw his arms around his mother's leg. Laura knelt down and the arms were soon around her neck as a second boy came running and added his arms to his mommy's neck. Laura was quick to register the tears in the boys' eyes and the strength with which the boys were holding on and realized that things had not gone well at all at the Stanley home, which would explain why she had a fire captain sleeping on her sofa and a sleepy teenager coming out of her guest room.
Laura did manage to get the boys to go to their potties and then sit them down to some cold cereal while she took a shower. The boys did eat but they kept mistrusting eyes on Hank and his daughter while they did so.
While Laura was in her room she made a phone call to the emergency day care at the hospital and secured places for her two boys during the day time hours for as long as Mike was in the hospital. When she was showered and dressed she walked back into the kitchen with a piece of paper in her hands.
"Mommy's got a surprise for you boys." She spoke with excitement in her efforts to get them to buy in to her plans.
Hank and Kristen helped to get the boys' little bags packed with several changes of clothes and all the training panties in the drawer divided evenly between the two while Laura got her boys dressed. She was the only person they trusted to help them get dressed.
Once Hank waved Laura off as she drove to the hospital he and his daughter went in and changed the sheets on the guest bed so that it would be ready for Mike's mom when she got there and then Hank took his daughter home.
Once there Hank could see that his wife was still devastated by her night with the boys and took her into his arms. Sitting in his favorite chair Hank pulled his wife onto his lap and held on as she rested her head on his shoulder and tried real hard to keep her tears silent.
"Em, I don't know if I can find the words to tell you how much I appreciate you. I don't think you have any idea how much it meant to me when you just jumped in at a moment's notice to take care of Mike's two boys in the middle of the crisis. Laura told me to tell you that she's sorry they were a problem but that she was grateful that you were willing to help out when everything was so crazy."
Emily finally looked into her husband's eyes her own filled with tears. "I've never, not been able to calm a child down before."
"Everything was off for those two boys. I think I need to make more of an effort for the extended station family to get to know each other. The boys didn't know you all that well and that was part of the problem."
Hank pulled his wife back into a tight hug and rubbed her back. "I also want to thank you for bringing all of my offspring into this world one at a time. I think they're a little easier to handle that way."
Emily giggled into her husband's shoulder and had to agree.